


See Him Again

by revengingbarnes



Category: Loki: Agent of Asgard, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: 2012 Loki, Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Hopeful Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:28:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25162417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revengingbarnes/pseuds/revengingbarnes
Summary: The reader goes back in time to 2012 and sees Loki for the first time since his death. Alternative ending.
Relationships: Tom Hiddleston/Loki/Original Female Character(s), Tom Hiddleston/Loki/Reader
Kudos: 27





	See Him Again

It felt like falling, when the effect of the Pym particles took over. Before you knew it, you were hurtling through… nothing in particular. It was like a dream, and it almost felt fake, like it wasn’t actually happening. Then, you were gasping for breath, nearly stumbling before regaining your balance. Blinking furiously, you looked around, relaxing when you saw that your friends were still close to you. 

That’s when you focused on your surroundings, mouth dropping open. _Holy shit_.

You remembered this day clear as crystal, the concrete roads split and littered, robot aliens descending from the sky, hell bent on ending life on Earth as you knew it. The Battle of New York had gone down in history as one of the worst tragedies of America. But it was more than just a mere title. For the people who were there, it was like a nightmare etched into their minds forever. For you, it was double the pain. Not only were you about to witness again the tragic aftermath of that day, but something else was happening as well.

You knew exactly who you’d be seeing in a little while. And you weren’t sure if you were ready for it. 

“Alright, everybody knows their assignments…” Steve was speaking, but you were too focused to keeping your breathing leveled and mind calm. You couldn’t afford to panic now. You needed to get the Tesseract and you needed to do it _right_. There were no do-overs. It was now or never. 

When Bruce disappeared to get the Time Stone, you, Tony, Steve and Scott headed to where you knew you’d find the Tesseract, as well as younger versions of yourselves. 

“This is so weird.” You whispered, knowing that the rest of the gang could hear you through your earpiece. You watched yourself and the others pile into an elevator, screaming at Hulk to take the stairs and that he wouldn’t fit with them. You caught sight of young Tony, sitting casually on the grey suitcase that contained what you needed. 

“I have eyes on target.” You informed, looking at everyone else in the elevator. You had pointedly been ignoring a certain green-caped god, but you couldn’t do it any longer. Your eyes fell on him, and you felt your breath hitch. 

He looked exactly like you remembered him. Or maybe he looked even more breathtaking than before. Maybe it was because at that time, you weren’t in love with the God of Mischief. Now you were. Beauty truly did lie in the eye of the beholder. Even bruised and banged up by Hulk, he was still as stunning as ever. Wrists bound and mouth gagged, green cape flowing behind him beautifully. You nearly laughed at the look on your- _young yours_ \- face. You had hated him then. In a time when you saw everything in black and white. Good and evil. Back then, Loki was nothing more to you than a psychopath who enjoyed bringing about death. Oh, how the times had changed.

The five years since Thanos’ snap had been the worst of your life. With Loki, things hadn’t always been easy, but you had found someone in him. Someone who cared and someone you cared for. With him gone, you essentially felt lost. And he had been taken away from you at the worst time possible. Just when things were starting to look up for him and Thor, all your hopes had come crashing down.

Instantly, Loki’s death was playing in your head, like an old projector brought to life in front of your eyes. You saw his struggle against Thanos, the spark draining from his eyes, the color draining from his face. You heard Thor’s cries mingling with your own, getting louder and louder… 

“ _Y/N_!” You blinked, snapping your head to the sides before realizing the voice was coming from your earpiece. 

“ _You good?”_ Tony asked, seeming to have realized what had happened. You felt tears on your cheeks. You had started crying. Your body was leaning against the wall for support. You scraped at your eyes furiously, wiping the tears away. 

“ _Wanna sit this out?_ ” Steve’s voice was kind and understanding, but his words made you shake your head furiously. 

“Not an option.” You muttered. You could see Tony, _your_ Tony, walking over to you with the next part of your plan. You took a deep breath and forced yourself to focus on the mission at hand. You didn’t expect to have such a visceral reaction to seeing Loki. You shook your head when Tony stopped before you, extending the uniform to you. 

“I hate every aspect of this.” You muttered, taking it from him. He smirked but didn’t reply. 

Less than two minutes later, the entire group was heading through the lobby towards the main door. You stood on the sidelines with Tony, trying to look as discreet as possible. It wasn’t hard, since most of your face was covered by the large, dark goggles of the SHIELD uniform. 

“Alright, I’ve got eyes on the prize. It’s go time.” Tony was whispering and you huffed, worrying your bottom lip between your teeth. 

“This is crazy, Tony.” You hissed. “Do you realize you could potentially _die_?”

“I’m not going to die. Just a little cardiac arrest, is all.”

“Yeah that doesn’t sound little.” You retorted snarkily, hearing Scott yell something in your ear about how he was going inside Tony now. Had you not been so worried, the innuendo would have made you laugh. 

You watched Alexander Pierce and his men show up, who you now knew had actually been HYDRA. You could hear, even from where you were standing, the argument about handing the case over and that it was SHIELD property. You felt yourself tense, your teeth gritting, legs stiffening, ready to watch it go down as soon as Scott did what Tony had asked. 

“You have to do it now!” Tony was saying next to you. Then, amidst the struggle, you saw young Tony’s face drop and turn rigid, the case slipping from his grip.

It all happened very quickly. You heard Pierce call for a medic, Tony throwing in a comic line about the guy needing some help. Your hands had curled into fists, wired and ready to sprint at any moment. 

Seemingly out of nowhere, the case slid across the floor to where Tony stood a few feet from you, making him lean down to pick it up. You knew Scott had kicked it. But your eyes had caught a new focus, watching Loki’s head snap towards the movement of the case, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Tony-” You couldn’t get a word in though, he was already heading away. Before you could turn and follow, the unexpected happened. 

Hulk came smashing through a wooden door, sending Tony to the floor and the suitcase flying from his hand. Almost as if in slow motion, you saw the case open on its impact with the floor, the glowing blue Tesseract sliding across the floor and coming to a rest at Loki’s feet. Your eyes widened in horror as his eye caught the Stone. 

“No!” You yelled, breaking into a wild sprint. Just as he had wrapped his hands around the object and straightened, your body crashed into his, knocking it straight from his hand and onto the floor again. The SHIELD agents surrounding Loki were distracted by young Tony’s collapsed form, not turning their attention to the commotion behind them. 

You and Loki fell to the ground in a mess of limbs, trying to untangle yourselves. You saw his hand reaching for the discarded Tesseract.

“Scott!” You managed to squeak, holding on tightly to a struggling Loki. You saw the Tesseract almost fly to the opposite side of the room. Scott had kicked it away again. You watched in relief as Tony- your Tony- picked it up, thankfully having recovered from Hulk’s blow. He was bounding for the exit, and as you watched him turn the corner, your chest heaved out a sigh. But now you had another problem to deal with. 

Loki’s scream of frustration was muffled by the mouthpiece he had on, hand slamming against the floor he lay on. His angry eyes landed on you, holding onto his fury for only a few seconds before it gave way to shock. For a split second, you were confused about the change of emotion, before your own eyes widened. _Shit_. He recognized you. You were too close to him and he’d seen you through the goggles. 

In a mad scramble to keep him from making too much noise and drawing attention to the two of you, you jumped to your feet and pulled him up as well, trained eyes going quickly over your surroundings. Thor was using his hammer to try and restart Tony’s heart, effectively holding the room’s attention. _Perfect_. 

You pulled Loki to his feet roughly, knowing you’d need a lot of strength. Before you could form a plan of action, you were dragging him away from the focal point of the room, turning down a hallway you’d never noticed before. It took you a lot of pushing and shoving to move him. He _was_ a god after all, at least ten times stronger than you. He didn’t seem to object to your actions though, realizing you were getting him out of there rather than digging an even deeper hole for him. 

Once you were out of sight for everyone in the room, your wide eyes finally turned to him.

He looked even more stunning up close, and the proximity was invoking feelings in you that you had kept buried for the last five years. You felt tears sting your eyes, gaze running hungrily over Loki’s entire face, desperate for the sight of him after missing him for so long. His own eyes bore into yours, pale blue widening in confusion and eyebrows furrowing. You sniffled and reached up in hesitation, hands hovering over his mouthpiece.

“How do I get this off?” You muttered, making Loki reply in a muffled tone. His bound hands gestured to the back of his neck.

You reached behind, feeling over the metal and pressing randomly over the surface in hopes of finding a button. There was a _click_ and the piece constricted to a single, metal plate that fell to the ground with a slight clatter. Now free, Loki took a deep breath before gritting his teeth.

“You’re not from this time, are you?”

His voice nearly had you dissolving in tears again, but you managed to keep your cool and bite the inside of your cheek. Tears had completely blurred your vision at this point, on the verge of spilling over onto your cheeks. He kept looking over your face, no doubt trying to understand the intensity behind your reaction. You didn’t know how much your behavior had shocked him until you lifted a shaky hand and gently caressed the side of his face, and he _let_ you. You felt yourself choke on a sob.

“I missed you so much.” Your voice was irregular with the effort to not hiccup, feeling the jut of his cheekbone, using every ounce of strength to not kiss him.

You felt him deflate a little upon hearing that, his eyes showing comprehension, as if he’d finally figured out what was going on.

“I take it I won’t survive for too long.”

You let out a huff, nodding before a trembling smile lifted your lips up. “But you die a hero’s death. Though now that I think about it, that means absolutely nothing to you.”

Loki’s eyebrow raised a little, and you started noticing the little differences in this Loki and your Loki. His features were sharp, expression haughty, unlike a certain softness your Loki had had. You had to remind yourself that this was Loki at his most damaged time. This was him lashing out after hearing of his father’s lies and betrayal. This was Loki fresh out of Thanos’ control. 

“ _Y/N_!” You nearly jumped at the sudden voice, pressing a finger to your earpiece.

“I’m here.” You replied hearing audible sighs of relief. 

“ _God, we thought we lost you for a second. Are you okay?_ ”

“Fine.” You mumbled, watching Loki undo the restraints on his wrists but make no move to escape. The revelation of his future seemed to have sombered him up slightly.

“ _Rendezvous five minutes. You know where_.”

You lifted your finger from the earpiece and watched Loki as he peeked around the corner at the commotion in the lobby. You understood why everyone was freaking out. The Tesseract was gone. Loki was gone. It wasn’t exactly a good time for your younger versions.

“I have a lot of questions.” He said, finally. “But something tells me I should trust you right now. Call it an instinct.”

You cracked a smile. “Yeah, you always seemed to have that about me. You told me once, how you disliked me least among the Avengers. In your words, that meant you loved me, but god forbid you ever say the L word.”

He turned to look at you, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “Staying here means I’ll die. Coming with you means I won’t. It’s simple math. Don’t flatter yourself, darling.”

It felt so natural, this banter with Loki, his inability to accept his feelings for you. That denial had lasted for a long time before Loki resigned to his heart and let himself love you. It was amusing that even in this situation, it was no different. You couldn’t help but shoot him a grin.

“This isn’t flattery, it’s reality. But you’ll realize that sooner or later.” You looked out into the lobby to assess the situation. “Right now, we have other things to deal with.”

You didn’t know how exactly and when you decided you were taking this Loki with you, but it made sense. You had had that possibility in your head ever since you learned that changing the past bizarrely didn’t change the future. You hadn’t brought it up because you weren’t sure if you’d go through with it. But now, looking at Loki and talking to him like you hadn’t in years, you knew you couldn’t live like this. You’d be kicking stones without him all your life.

There were a trillion complications that came with taking this Loki with you. But you knew for a fact that it would work out. If you knew anything about Loki, you knew he didn’t really want glory and a kingdom. All he ever did want was not to be regarded as an inferior. He had healing to do, and your friends were going to flip shit when you showed up at the rendezvous point with him, but you’d get through it. You’d figure it out.

One thing was for sure. There was no way you were failing this Loki like you had failed your own.


End file.
